Blaze of Glory
by SETI-fan
Summary: Finn, Jake, and their friends must vanquish a Deathwyrm that's been unleashed before it devours all the lives in Ooo. But to defeat death itself, one may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.
1. Chapter 1

I'm not sure when exactly to consider this story happening, because since I started writing it they've had all kinds of developments on the show. So, it's basically happening around the current point in the season, but I didn't include mentions of Lady being pregnant and wrote the first part shortly after "Burning Low", so I still have things a bit tense between Finn, PB, and Flame Princess. Other than that, it should fit in fine where we are now.

The other thing I'll add is that I'm no Rebecca Sugar. I put a song in here for Marceline because it felt right in the situation, but I hope you'll be forgiving that I've never written music before. That said, enjoy the story!

* * *

"You sure about this, man?" Jake asked, trying to figure out which end of the tent pole he held was supposed to go in the ground. "New girlfriend and your ex-girlfriend hanging out? Sounds like trouble."

"PB's not really my ex, officially," Finn said, laying out firewood in the middle of a circle of logs. "And I want to do this. I'm tired of everyone being awkward and fighting. I just want things to be like they were, but with Flame Princess included. She's excited to meet everyone, Marcie's cool with everything, and Bubblegum said she'd come, so she must be okay with it now. You sure Lady can't make it?"

"Yeah, she doesn't like to fly at night."

"Sorry, bro."

"No one asked if Beemo wanted to bring someone," Beemo muttered, throwing pebbles at the stack of firewood.

"Are you still mooning after Software Princess?" Jake asked. "You need to accept that you're just not compatible."

Beemo harrumphed, crossed his arms, and glared at the woodpile.

The sun set further, darkening the clearing where they'd set up camp. Down the hillside, a trail of flame could be seen streaking toward them, extinguishing the area behind it after passing.

"Look! She's here!" Finn grinned, bouncing up and down.

"No hugs without protection!" Jake called as Finn ran over to meet her.

Finn and Flame Princess stopped a chaste distance apart, smiling shyly at each other.

"Am I late?" she asked.

"You're right on time." Finn gestured to the woodpile. "Would you do the honors, milady?"

She gathered a fireball in her hands and lobbed it at the pile. The wood exploded into flame, sending embers scattering across the clearing. Beemo fell backward off his log and Jake stretched to protect the tent from igniting. The inferno shortly settled down to a neat, contained campfire.

Finn surveyed the area, patting out a smoldering spot on his shoulder. "Nice. Your control's getting really good."

As he and Flame Princess chatted, Jake resumed trying to sort out the tent. He finally got it balanced awkwardly and stepped back, nodding in satisfaction. A sudden gust of wind blew the tent over.

"Hey!" Jake scowled, then looked up to see the Morrow perched at the side of the clearing, Princess Bubblegum dismounting. "Oh, hey, PB."

"Hello, Jake." Bubblegum took her sleeping bag and a cooler down from the giant hawk's back, then waved it off on its way. "I brought the food. Where shall I put it?"

"Over by the fire's good." Jake looked at the tangle of canvas and metal poles, then tossed them off to the side. "Finn, I'm done with the tent!"

"Cool!" Finn looked over and saw Bubblegum. He put on a smile that didn't quite look natural. "Good evening, Princess."

"It's good to see you, Finn, Flame Princess."

In the pause that followed, Jake looked back and forth between them. "Yeah, this is gonna be fun."

"Aw, you're right, Jake," Finn said guiltily. "I'm glad you came, PB."

"Me too," she agreed, trying to be less formal. "And it will be nice to finally meet you properly, Flame Princess."

"You too," Flame Princess said politely.

"Can we get the hot dogs going already?" Jake grumped, wandering over to the firepit.

"Don't worry," Finn said to Flame Princess. "In no time, everyone's gonna be relaxed and having a good time…" He trailed off as he saw her eyes go wide in terror. "What is it?!"

"Behind you!"

He spun around to see a dark shape looming in the shadows of the woods. Red eyes gleamed and white fangs curved in the firelight as it snarled and lunged toward him.

"Oh, hey, Marceline."

The monster froze its leap inches from him and slumped with an annoyed sigh, shrinking back down to her normal form. "Man, you are so much less fun these days."

"Fool me a hundred and fifty times, shame on you. Fool me a hundred and fifty-one times…" He noticed Flame Princess still hanging back behind him, watching Marceline nervously. "It's okay, F.P. This is Marceline. Marceline, Flame Princess. Oh, glob!" His eyes widened. "Marcie, is the firelight going to hurt you?"

"Nah, fire's different than sunlight." She looked past him and gave Flame Princess a grin. "Nice to finally meet the new girl I've heard so much about."

"Good things!" Finn interjected. "All good things!"

"I remember you," Flame Princess said, stepping a bit closer. "My father kicked you out of our kingdom a few years ago."

"Yeah, that guy had no sense of humor," Marceline snorted. "So, the genie finally escaped her lamp, huh?"

Now Flame Princess smiled. "Yes, Finn and Jake helped me get out and I'm staying in this kingdom now." Her fire flared as she clenched her fist. "I'm tired of my father controlling my life."

Marceline gave her an approving nod. "I get that. Well, come on," she continued, swinging her bass off her shoulder and floating toward the campfire, "let's get this cookout going! Hey, Bonni! You doing the cooking? I'm starved!"

Bubblegum looked up from preparing hot dogs and hamburgers for the fire. "I thought you preferred to bring your own food."

"What, you brought stuff for everyone except me? Not very princess-like."

Bubblegum held her petulant glare for a moment before rolling her eyes with a sigh and handing Marceline a cinnamon candy piece from the cooler.

"Aw, knew I could count on you."

Flame Princess watched her sit back in the air beside Bubblegum. "You don't drink blood?"

"Nah, just the color red, usually from fruit." She looked over at Bubblegum, who held a raw hamburger patty in one hand while distracted with something in the cooler. "Of course, every now and then…"

Silently, she floated closer to Bubblegum. The princess looked back in time to see the hamburger being drained of color. "Marceline!"

Marceline sat back, all affronted innocence. "What? It's gonna turn gray when you cook it anyway. And I left the juice in it."

Bubblegum grumbled and set the patty apart from the others, then went back to her preparations.

Finn laughed as Jake sniffed at the partly-drained patty. "Man, we should've done this way sooner. I've missed hanging out together." He picked up a stick and speared a hotdog on it. "FP, you want me to start one for you?"

"Oh, I can do it myself." She reached over and picked up one of the burgers. She placed her palms on either side of it and pressed. Steam rose between her fingers. When she opened her hands, a charbroiled burger sat inside.

"Trigonometric!" Finn bounced on the log, putting down his roasting stick. "Would you do one for me?"

"You can have this one." She moved to hand it to him, then realized he had no plate.

"Hang on, check this out!" Finn dug through his backpack and came up wearing a silver, crinkled glove. "Tinfoil gauntlet! Pretty sweet, huh?"

With his gloved hand, he took the burger from her and put it on a bun. "See? This way we can actually hold hands and stuff…" His face reddened and he stuttered, "Uh, you know, if you want to."

Flame Princess responded by smiling shyly and reaching out to take his hand. Both brightened as they shared their first time holding hands without any pain.

"It works!" Finn cheered. "It's like twenty layers thick. Go ahead, really give it some heat."

Flame Princess sent more heat to her hands, her fire taking on a white color. Bubblegum winced nervously and Marceline flinched a bit.

Finn tried to look stoic, but his arm started shaking and he bit his lip. "Okay," he said in a strangled voice, "maybe it needs more layers."

Flame Princess giggled and let go of his hand. Finn chuckled too, flexing his fingers to be sure they still worked. Bubblegum sighed and focused back on her burger, which Marceline couldn't help noticing with a grin was the pale patty.

Beemo sighed. "Software Princess used to let me exchange files with her mainframe."

Jake groaned. "None of us want to know about that, Beemo!"

And so talk turned more relaxed as everyone ate and chatted. Inevitably, once all were full and spirits high, talk turned to music.

"You have got to hear Marceline play," Finn told Flame Princess. "It's bizonkers! If you're up for it, Marcie."

"Yeah, no problem." Marceline pulled her axe from behind the log and tested the tuning. "But all of you need to jam too. I don't feel like getting serious tonight. Y'all know way too much about me already."

"Sure thing," Finn agreed. "Jake, you brought your viola, right?"

"Is the Ice King desperate and lonely?" Jake stretched his arms over to get it out of Finn's backpack.

Bubblegum leaned down to where Beemo sat, playing a game against himself. "Are you ready?"

Beemo paused his game to eye her warily.

"I promise, no algorithms this time. Just free-styling."

"Okay." He logged out of his game and let her pick him up and begin picking at his circuitboards.

As Finn warmed up his lips to beatbox, he looked over at Flame Princess. "Globbit, I forgot to ask if you had an instrument to play!"

"It's all right. I can make one." Flame Princess scooped up handfuls of the sand around the firepit. She melted each handful into glass and stretched them out to form hollow pipes of different lengths. As she ran her hand under each one, the hot air rushed through, making different haunting notes.

"Whoa…" Finn stared, mouth open.

"Okay, I am so bringing you to my next show," Marceline said. "Ghosts would go poltergeist over that! Here, see if you can follow this."

Marceline strummed out a tune and Flame Princess found a complementary rhythm. Jake joined in and Bubblegum devised a theme as Finn rolled out a beat. It didn't take long for the sound to blend into a layered, vibrant melody.

Eyes closed, Marceline started humming along, and her voice soon followed, low and smooth.

"Starlit skies

Under a bloodless moon arising

They gather in the firelight with shadows on all sides

Keep the darkness at bay 'cause that's where demons like to play

And never from the firelight will you stray

No matter what sweet temptations they lay"

Bubblegum frowned a bit at that line and looked up at her suspiciously. Sure enough, the vampire was lost in the music, probably barely aware she was singing. But Bubblegum was listening closely as her voice became stronger and more pointed.

"No, stay in the light, and never brave the night

You'll never know the thrill, but you'll never know the fright

And one day you may wonder if it was maybe worth the fight

And if the choice you made was really right

But you'll only hear the silence of the night…"

She broke off, like someone startled out of a dream, as the ground trembled beneath them, their instruments stuttering to a stop.

"I think something really likes our music!" Finn shouted over the rumbling.

"Or really hates it!" Jake yelled back.

The ground in the middle of their camp suddenly exploded upward, knocking them all backward. Through the spray of dirt and embers, a giant, white, serpent-like monster erupted into the clearing.

"What the crud?" Finn gasped.

"I don't know, man. I've never seen one of these before." Jake leapt back as a coil of the monster landed on the ground before him.

"Get the princesses!" Finn ordered. He turned to the serpent. "Hey! Nobody ruins my campouts!"

He drew his sword and the creature's head snapped in his direction. Finn saw then that the pale head had no eyes, just sockets with skin stretched over them. Still, it seemed to stare directly at him, tendrils around its snout twitching. It opened its mouth and a black tongue lashed out of it.

Finn braced to slice at the tongue, but was suddenly swept off his feet and into the air. The tongue passed right where he had been standing and hit a tree, which immediately withered and cracked.

Finn looked up to see Marceline in her bat form gripping him by the shoulders. She darted back and forth around the clearing, the snake following their every move.

"Cover your ears!" she shouted.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

As Finn wrapped his arms around his head, Marceline turned around to face the serpent head-on and released an ultrasonic screech. The creature recoiled with a hiss and turned its attention toward Jake and the princesses instead. Marceline shrieked again and this time the serpent dove back into the soil, burrowing away.

"Where'd it go?" Finn asked as Marceline set him down and shifted back to her normal shape.

"Away, for now," Bubblegum said. "We need to get back to my labs and figure out our next course of action before it surfaces again. Morrow, to me!"

The bird landed and they climbed aboard, Finn making Flame Princess a blanket of tinfoil to sit on. Marceline, though, hovered at the edge of the tunnel left by the monster, examining the now-dead grass of the clearing.

"Marceline, are you coming?" Bubblegum called. "It'll be faster for you to ride than fly."

"Huh?" Marceline looked up, still distracted. "Oh, yeah. I'm coming."

She joined them on the Morrow's back, but as it took off, she kept staring back at the tunnels in the campsite.


	2. Chapter 2

The Morrow dropped them off on the balcony outside Princess Bubblegum's bedroom. Peppermint Butler scurried over as the princess strode into the room.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"

"There's a new monster on the loose," she said, starting to gather books from her shelves. "Make up a batch of tea. We're going to have to go through my library to find what that creature was. I had Beemo take a picture—"

"Don't bother," Marceline interrupted. She still floated in the doorway, staring out into the night. Her arms were folded tightly as if she was cold. "It's a Deathwyrm."

Peppermint Butler gasped.

"That sounds awesome and messed up," Finn said.

Bubblegum frowned. "I've never heard of a Deathwyrm before."

"They haven't been around in a long time." Marceline's voice was flat and somehow she seemed older than usual. "I only saw them once before, back when I was a kid, right after the Mushroom War. So many people died all at once all over the world. Death couldn't collect the dead fast enough, so he made Deathwyrms to help."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Jake said. "Nobody wants dead bodies lying around, festering up the place."

Marceline finally turned to look back at them. "It doesn't just eat dead bodies. It takes the lives of anything in its path, whether they're done with them or not. That's why Death recalled them when they were done."

"Whaaaaat?" Finn gasped.

"So this creature's loose in Ooo, stealing lives from our people?" Bubblegum demanded, aghast.

"Don't worry, Princess," Finn said. "We'll go kick that worm's butt and get these souls back, like we did with Marcie's dad."

"This is worse than that, Finn," Marceline growled. "My dad just steals souls. The body's still alive for the souls to go back to. If this thing gets you, you go to the Underworld and you're dead forever!"

"So whatever released this thing intends to annihilate every living thing on the planet!" exclaimed Bubblegum. "It'll be the Mushroom War all over again!"

"Oh, glob! Why aren't we out there killing it already?!" Finn shouted.

"Uh, how exactly do you kill a giant death snake?" Jake asked.

Marceline shrugged. "I don't know. No one's ever killed one before."

Finn's eyes widened and shone. He turned to Jake, almost shaking with excitement. "Jake, do you know what this means?"

"I know, dude!"

"We're gonna be the first people to kill a Deathwyrm!" they yelled in unison, leaping up to high-five. As everyone else stared at them, they remembered the tone of the room.

"Uh, sorry." Finn blushed. "But we've got to get out there and vanquish this insanely rad monster. PB," he said, turning more serious, "I know you probably want to take care of your people, but we could really use your science mojo to figure out how to stop it."

Bubblegum sighed. "There's nothing I could do from here anyway. I just wish I could know they would be safe while we're away."

"You've got a PA system, right?" Marceline asked.

"For royal announcements and karaoke showdowns, yes."

"Deathwyrms are blind, but they're super sensitive to vibrations. They hate high-pitched sounds. I can set your system to blast feedback over the kingdom while you're gone."

"Perfect." Finn glared out at the night. "Let's do this."

OOO

The center of the kingdom was filled with Candy People. The Banana Guards and castle staff bustled through the crowd, passing out marshmallow ear plugs.

Up on the dais, Finn walked over to Flame Princess. The girl was leaning on the wall, her arms caramelizing the peanut brittle bricks.

"You okay, FP?"

"I'm just worrying if the Deathwyrm is attacking the Fire Kingdom. I haven't seen my father since I moved out." She looked up at Finn. "What if that was the last time I talk with him, and we were fighting?"

He wanted to reach out and touch her hair or shoulder, but his gauntlet was already packed. "It'll be okay. We're gonna beat it and you'll get to make up with your dad someday."

She scowled and her fire flared a bit. "Oh, I don't want to make up with him. But I want to know he's still alive to be mad at."

Finn laughed nervously.

Princess Bubblegum walked out onto the dais with a bullhorn. "Everyone ready?" she called to the crowd. "We're about to begin."

Finn put his earplugs in. Flame Princess covered her ears with her hands. The Candy People below got ready.

Marceline gave Beemo a thumbs-up and he put his speakers near the microphones of the PA. The shrill whine of feedback pierced the air.

Finn noticed Peppermint Butler standing nearby and walked over. He leaned down and gestured the butler to unplug one of his ears. "I need to ask you a favor!"

"Yes, Master Finn?" Peppermint Butler shouted back.

"Could you use your connections with Death to find out why one of his pets is running loose?"

Peppermint Butler winced at the shrill noise around them. "Gladly, sir."

Bubblegum gave Marceline a thumbs-up in return and turned back to the crowd. "My people, I will return soon—"

The crowd milled about obliviously.

"I said, my people, I will—Ah, forget it." Bubblegum tossed the bullhorn aside and walked over to the others gathered at the Morrow. "Let's go!"

"What?" shouted Finn.

Bubblegum rolled her eyes and dragged him aboard. As they all climbed on, Jake looked back from the dais. "Hey! At least let a guy know when we're leaving!"

"What?" Bubblegum called back.

OOO

"So how are we gonna find this thing?" Jake asked as they flew through the night.

"Hm." Finn thought. "It's going to home in on the nearest group of living things to where we last saw it, so maybe the goblin village?"

"Aw, man," Jake groaned. "Didn't they just finish rebuilding after Flame Princess's attac—I mean, masterpiece?" He gave her an awkward grin.

"What I don't get is why Death would make a monster to collect the dead that also killed living people," Bubblegum said.

"He figured the Mushroom War had wiped out everything," Marceline explained. "Most of the people who survived the main War were so messed up that death was a mercy. But he didn't expect all the new lifeforms that came from the War. When he found out, he called off the Wyrms."

"But why would he set one loose now?" Bubblegum wondered.

"Hey, look, trail of death." Jake pointed to a path of dead trees and grass through the forest.

"Oh no!" Finn gasped. "That's LSP's camp!"

They swooped down and landed the Morrow among the wreckage of Lumpy Space Princess' belongings. Her food was scattered everywhere, her garbage possessions shredded and strewn across the clearing. Near the center of the clearing were several piles of bones.

"Oh, glob…" Finn breathed. "LSP?"

"Finn?"

They all looked up at the voice and saw Lumpy Space Princess clinging to a branch high in one of the nearby trees.

"Oh my glob!" she yelled, half-floating, half-falling out of the tree, sap and leaves stuck all over her. "Thank glob you guys are here!"

"LSP, are you okay?" Finn asked.

"It was horrible, you guys! This giant snake thing attacked my home! It was so nasty!"

"I know. We saw it trashed your camp."

"Um, nah, it was already like that. I had a party last night," Lumpy Space Princess said.

"Oh."

"What about the piles of bones?" Jake asked.

"They're from the hot wings from the party. Except for that one," she pointed to one of the piles. "That was Mickey. I told him the party was over at eleven last night, but he wouldn't lumping take a hint and leave. I'm glad the snake got him."

They all stared at her with slightly more horror than usual.

"Uh, did you see where the snake went?" Finn asked.

"Yeah. It went that way, toward that grody goblin city."

"Thanks!" Finn called as they climbed back onto the Morrow.

"See if the snake will come back after my next party to clear everyone out!" Lumpy Space Princess shouted after them.

OOO

As they approached the goblin village, they could already see the Deathwyrm slithering between the buildings. The goblins were clustered on the upper levels of their tallest towers, screaming.

Finn rose up on the back of the Morrow, drawing his sword. "All right, man, you ready to burn our names into the history books?"

"You know it, dude! I'd go gaga to star in a saga!"

They leapt off the giant bird and tucked and rolled as they landed on the street near the monster.

"Hey, Deathwyrm!" Finn shouted. "Time to leave Ooo alone and go home! We're not dead yet!"

The serpent's head turned toward him, fangs extending.

"Aw, man. Why'd you have to say 'yet'?" Jake moaned.

"Just stay away from its mouth," Finn said.

"Believe me, none of my plans involve going near its mouth." Jake stretched up above the wyrm and made his face look like a skull. "Hey, look at me! I'm a rotting, half-dead body that just wants to die already! Brains…"

The serpent didn't even turn, still pursuing Finn, who dodged a strike of its tongue.

"It can't see." Marceline hovered beside Jake. "It hears your heartbeats. Try this." She strummed some low notes on her bass guitar.

The Deathwyrm's attention flickered to her just long enough for Finn to run around its side, away from its head.

"Its weakest point should be the very top of its head or the middle of its belly between where its ribs end," Bubblegum called from her aerial vantage point.

Finn rolled under a coil of the Deathwyrm and jabbed his sword into its stomach. The blade sunk in about a foot and the creature howled in pain.

"Yeah!" Finn whooped. "My sword hurt it a little!"

In his moment of celebration, the wyrm's tail whipped around and smacked him, sending him flying backward against a wall. His sword landed a few feet away, out of his reach.

"Finn!" Jake yelled, punching the wyrm with a gigantic fist. The monster didn't even pause. Marceline hacked it with her axe, but the blade didn't make much more impact than Finn's had.

Finn gulped as the serpent's head reared back to strike.

"No!" Flame Princess screamed, an inferno pouring off her hands against the Deathwyrm. It let out a shriek, its side blistering and blackening. It dove into the earth, boring a tunnel to get away from the raging fire elemental.

The goblins watching from the towers cheered the victory until the wind carried a few embers their way and set a building ablaze again.

Jake sighed. "I'll go save the goblins."

Flame Princess shrank back down, dimming her fire, and ran to Finn. "Finn! Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Finn was gazing at her in awe. "That was amazing! That was, like, six—no, _seven_ kinds of awesome! You are _so_ coming adventuring with us from now on!"

Flame Princess glowed at his praise.

"So now we know fire can harm it," Bubblegum said as the Morrow landed. She scribbled on pieces of paper. "Based on its previous attacks, I believe I can extrapolate where it may surface next."

"Or we can just follow the giant hole it dug in the ground," Marceline pointed out.

"Not all of us can see in the dark as well as you can."

Marceline gestured to Flame Princess. "She's a living torch."

"Yeah!" Finn said. "And if we catch it in the tunnel, we can attack it from behind and it can't turn around to hit us back!"

Bubblegum sighed. "I suppose you have a point."

Jake walked back over, smudged with soot. "The goblins have a pretty good bucket brigade going. What's the game plan?"

"Go down the wyrmhole and toast its butt till it croaks," Finn answered.

"Oh," Jake said. "Neat."


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry it took a little longer to get this one up. In a genius move, I, a person with absolutely no background in writing songs, chose to write a fic in which Marceline sings not one, but three original songs. Song #2 is in this chapter and it's the big one. It had to be meaningful, so I took my time to try to get it the best I could do. For the first one, I had a clear tune in mind for it. For this one, I guess picture a combination of "Teardrop" by Massive Attack (a.k.a. the song they used for the theme to House) and "He's Going the Distance" by Cake (not the cat). I hope it came out okay.

(I swear next time I'm just doing a song-fic or something. Total new levels of respect for Rebecca Sugar.)

* * *

The group entered the tunnel at a jog, leaving the Morrow waiting in the goblin village. Finn took the lead, sword in hand, with Flame Princess at his side to illuminate the way.

"The wyrm's got a pretty big head start," Jake panted.

"Yeah, but it has to dig through all this rock to go anywhere. It's not like there's already secret passageways under here."

The tunnel suddenly opened up around them into a broad chamber and a vast web of side tunnels. Crystals imbedded in the walls sparkled in the firelight.

"Aw, plop," Finn groaned.

"It's a rock candy mine." Bubblegum stepped forward to survey the area. "Plenty of sugar crystals still in the walls. Where are all the miners?"

"I'd say the Deathwyrm had a little snack," Marceline said, floating further into the chamber. She held up the arm of a skeleton.

As their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they realized there were skeletons scattered all around the room. The remains of dozens of people whose lives were stolen from them while just trying to do an honest day's work. Some still clung to their tools. Most appeared to have been running when they died.

In that moment, defeating the Deathwyrm was no longer just about the glory.

"If we fail tonight, all of Ooo will look like this soon," Bubblegum breathed.

"Man, the wyrm could've gone anywhere from here," Finn moaned.

"I don't see any fresh tunnels," Jake said. "It must have chased the rest of the miners off through one of theirs."

"Think you can track it by smell?" Finn asked.

"I'll try." Jake walked forward down a pathway into the chamber. "Man, there's all kind of nasty funk down here."

Finn followed him out into the chamber. A few steps in, Flame Princess stopped, looking around.

"FP, what's wrong?" Finn turned back, sword ready.

"There's something really flammable in here. It's harder to control my flame."

Bubblegum looked around them and gasped. "There!"

She pointed across the chamber to where a cluster of shelled black creatures were gnawing at the sugar crystals in the walls. "Sucravores. They eat sugar deposits and release glycydrogen gas as a waste product. It's insanely explosive! If we bring a flame anywhere near those creatures, we'll be blown to Chiclets!"

Flame Princess backed up. "The gas isn't very thick here. But you'll have to go the rest of the way without me."

"No way," Finn said firmly. "I'm not going to leave you alone with a death snake on the loose. Besides, you're our secret weapon. We'll just have to find a way around the bugs with exploding farts—"

His eyes went wide and he turned to Jake. "Dude, I know you're thinking what I just thought."

Jake winced. "I don't know, man. Last time we tried that you couldn't sit down for, like, three days."

"Yeah, but this time we're not gonna use mine. Look, the Deathwyrm's weakness is fire, so all we have to do is get it into that gas, then have FP light it up! Ba-boom!" He threw his arms wide. "Deathwyrm crispies!"

"That's actually scientifically-sound enough to work," Bubblegum mused. "If we can draw the Deathwyrm right into the center of the glycydrogen cloud there"—she pointed—"the ignition temperature should be more than sufficient to vaporize its flesh. Of course, that means we'll all have to be shielded from the blast…"

She looked around and her gaze settled on a giant broken stalagmite jutting up from the floor of a nearby miner's tunnel. "Perfect!" She scribbled a quick calculation. "The density of this stone and the distance from the blast should be adequate to protect us." Her confident smile faded. "Of course, someone will still have to lure the Deathwyrm into position."

"I'm on it, Princess," Finn said solemnly, psyching himself up.

"No."

They all turned in surprise at Marceline's voice. "I got this."

"Huh?" Finn said. "Why you?"

"I'm already undead. That snake can't do jack to me. You're a hyper teenager. It'd target you in a heartbeat. Like, literally."

"Which is why it makes more sense I should be the bait."

She sighed. "Okay, say you outrun the wyrm. You gonna outrun the explosion too?"

Finn's pupils dilated. "I'm not sure I've ever wanted to do anything more."

"You absolutely sure you can run that fast? This is going to be the real deal, Finn. Tinfoil isn't gonna protect you from that."

Finn blushed a bit. Marceline pressed on, her tone kinder. "Look, I can fly really fast and even if I'm not quick enough, fire's no big to me, remember? Just take care of her highness and let me and your fire princess take the lead on this one."

Finn hesitated. "I don't know. Hiding doesn't seem like what a hero would do."

"You're not hiding. We're going to need you in reserve ready to fight, because if this doesn't work, we're all screwed."

Finn sighed heavily. "All right. But if there's any trouble, I'm going in!"

"How do you plan on attracting the creature if it senses life?" Bubblegum asked, her voice a little flat.

"That sword of yours is demonic, right?" Marceline asked Finn.

"Yeah." He looked down at the red metal. "Our dad made it from demon's blood."

"Same as my bass. Demonic stuff ticks off Deathwyrms. It doesn't belong in this world. I think that's part of why it attacked us first in the woods. The other part, the big part, was the music." She ran her hand across the strings of her guitar. "Music's all about life. Once you're dead, really dead, no more music."

"Is that why Death does that musical showdown to get souls back?" Finn asked.

Marceline frowned. "How do you know about that?"

Finn grinned nervously, glancing at Bubblegum. "Uh, from stories. Just stories."

"Guys, I hate to rush everyone," Jake said, "but the snake monster's probably out there killing people right now."

"Right." Finn sighed. "Okay, Marcie, if you need back-up, I'll be ready for your signal." He stepped over to talk quietly to Flame Princess for a moment.

Marceline checked her bass, giving it a quick tune.

Bubblegum walked over to her, her voice quiet, but troubled. "Marceline, you realize this isn't going to be ordinary fire. A glycydrogen explosion is far more powerful than any other in Ooo. And brighter…"

"You have a better idea?" Marceline asked, still watching her fingers on the tuning knobs.

Bubblegum wrapped her arms around herself, staring off into the cavern. Finally, she said in a slightly tight voice, "The explosion will radiate outward in a sphere. If you can stay ahead of it and get behind a stalactite at least a meter thick, you should be safe."

Marceline looked up at her. "That's the hangy-down ones, right?"

Bubblegum gave a half-laugh. "Yes, the hangy-down ones." She took a shaky breath. "Marceline—"

"Bonnie, I've got a giant snake to blow up so we can all get home by sunrise. You'll have plenty of time to scold me for being stupid on the flight back, okay?" She flashed Bubblegum a toothy grin and floated up to where Finn and Flame Princess were hand-in-foil-covered-hand. "Pyro, you ready for our duet?"

Flame Princess squeezed Finn's hand one more time. "I'll be all right, Finn. Be safe."

As they started to leave the area around the stalagmite, Marceline paused and looked back. "Hey, if this doesn't work…it's been real." The words were light, but her tone was sincere.

"Yeah," Finn said, a little unsure what to do as the one left waiting during a fight.

"Good luck," he heard Bubblegum whisper beside him.

Marceline and Flame Princess approached the cluster of sucravores. Partway there, Flame Princess stopped, grimacing.

"I can't get much closer without igniting it," she said, her voice strained. The flames surrounding her body struggled to flare up, barely kept in check by her will. "But I can throw a fireball when we're ready."

"Cool. You can hide behind that pile of rubble till then." Marceline gestured to a slag heap nearby.

"The explosion can't destroy me." The girl sounded like she had just spent a long time convincing Finn of this. "I _am_ Fire."

"Yeah, but the Deathwyrm might be able to. Besides, I don't need any distractions once it's after me." Marceline pointed to the glycydrogen. "I'm going to try to lead it right into the middle of the cloud. Once it's in there, hit it with everything you've got. Just wale on it and let loose like you've always dreamed of."

Flame Princess frowned at her. "How did you know—?"

"Everybody holds back." Marceline looked her right in the eye, her expression turning serious. "Whatever happens, remember you're doing the right thing. You're saving Ooo. Got it?"

Flame Princess looked puzzled, but nodded. "Okay."

"Good. Just remember that. Have fun, Princess!"

Marceline flew toward the top of the chamber, stretching her ears into those of a bat to check where the acoustics would be best. The chamber filled once more with darkness but for a faint flickering as Flame Princess crouched behind the rubble pile, like someone putting a shutter over a candle. Marceline grinned. Then, settling into the auditory sweet spot high above the ground, she folded her legs into a sitting position, axe-bass resting in her lap.

She closed her eyes and focused in on a rhythm she hadn't felt in her own body for centuries, but that her vampire senses were hyper-attuned to. The metronome of life, ticking steadily in each of the mortals below her. She moved her fingers on the strings and began picking out a tune built around the beat of a heart.

The pulsing sound flowed through the chamber and down the side tunnels, low and constant, like blood pumping out to arteries, and shortly her voice followed.

"Come on and take a life if you dare

Everybody gets one, but it seems so unfair

That it drags on forever till they get to the end

And then they're wishing they could start all over again

And everyone tells you how lucky you are

To get to go on forever, never fearing the dark

But none of them realize everything that you've lost

To live without living is immortality's cost

'Cause the hills lose their thrill the thousandth time down

And the faces keep changing till there's just strangers around

You're stuck going round a ride that won't ever end

But you're too scared to jump off 'cause you don't know where you'll land

So you keep trying to care, though you know how it goes

Saying goodbye when it feels like you've just said hello

And you wish that you'd told them all the stuff

That you should have said when you thought there'd be time enough

How you loved all the cookouts, the jokes, and movie nights,

Being treated like a girl instead of like a fright—"

Finn and Jake looked up at her, surprise written on their faces.

"—Every stupid argument you should've forgiven

But you took it for granted knowing you'd keep on living

And if they really loved someone they should just take the dive

'Cause too soon she'll be gone and you'll still be alive—"

Bubblegum leaned back against the stalagmite, eyes wide, her hand going to her chest.

High above, Marceline strummed faster, frustrated emotion making her voice rough.

"Just going round and around and it never ends

Just the same stupid hills and the same stupid bends

Every same lame old trick, but this time you're alone

Watching all your old friends getting off to go home

And part of you wishes you could go where they go

But the rest of you doesn't want to leave what you know

So you keep going around and it never ends

Just over and over and _over_ again—"

The beat of the bass was overpowered by a deep rumbling through the caverns. Finn and the others alerted, trying to tell which tunnel it was coming from.

Suddenly, the ceiling cracked and the Deathwyrm burst through it, its head curving right in front of Marceline.

She stared straight into its eyeless face, her fingers still moving on the guitar. It snarled at her, tendrils twitching around the sinus cavities of its skeletal face, but it didn't attack. She could almost feel its confusion as its senses bombarded it with contradictory stimuli: music coming from a demonic instrument, a moving figure and a heartbeat-like rhythm, but her body temperature was indistinguishable from the surrounding air. As it tried to puzzle out what she was, its fury grew.

Marceline's lips curled back in a predatory grin as it hissed. "Showtime."


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, guys, last chapter. Sorry for more delays in getting this one out (school takes time and work, even when you're the teacher), but I have a bonus with this chapter. I couldn't resist doing a painting of an image from the climactic battle. DO NOT look at it until you've read the whole scene/chapter as it's spoilerific (unless you'd rather be spoiled first, I guess). If you want to check it out, it's on my deviantArt page here (take away all the spaces when copy/pasting the link or if it doesn't post correctly here, just go to their site, search my screenname, and find my gallery. It's the watercolor painting):

seti-fan . deviantart #/ d5e1m7n

Thank you all so much for all every kind review you've written for this story. I'm thrilled it's been such a hit and hope the ending lives up to your expectations. It's been a joy sharing it with you and I hope you'll enjoy future stories I write too. You guys have made my week(s) with your responses.

* * *

Marceline swooped backward, picking up the tempo on her bass, and sure enough, the Deathwyrm slithered out of its tunnel after her. Its body dropped to the floor of the chamber, but it kept its head up, pursuing Marceline as she floated deeper into the chamber, taunting it all the while.

"I know you're having trouble figuring me out

Trying to fit me into one of your categories

But I don't care what you expect me to be about

I'm not a monster from your myths and ghost stories

So go ahead and decide what you think I should be

You can't pin me down or predict what I'll do

There's only one thing you need to know about me

I'll be the death of you"

Finn, Jake, and Bubblegum peered around the stalagmite, holding their breath as the wyrm neared the cluster of sucravores. Flame Princess rose behind her cover, fireballs forming at her hands.

Maybe it was the increased heat or maybe Flame Princess' heart beat faster with adrenaline, but whatever it was, the Deathwyrm's attention diverted from Marceline and fell on the girl. Flame Princess froze, torn between defending herself and combusting the gas with the wyrm in the wrong place. As she hesitated, it opened its mouth, tongue curling to lash out.

"No!" Finn yelled, leaping up from behind the stalagmite, sword in hand. Bubblegum tried to pull him back down, but it was too late. The Deathwyrm was now fully focused on them and moving away from the glycydrogen cloud.

Marceline growled and strummed loudly on her bass, but the wyrm was far more intent on getting at the living mortals in the room. Finn slashed at the creature's snout while Jake grew huge and grabbed it around the neck. All the while, Flame Princess strained to hold off ignition.

Marceline groaned in frustration. The creature thrashed beneath her, freeing itself from Jake's grip, and the movement drew her attention to the thin, pale skin on the top of its back. Black veins were visible beneath the surface. Maybe…

Moving her bass around to her back, Marceline swooped down at the Deathwyrm and plunged her fangs as deep into its flesh as she could. Whatever it had for blood was coagulated and acidic, but she barely had time to register her disgust before the wyrm screamed in pain and whipped its body, flinging her backward across the chamber.

She heard Finn yell her name, but caught herself in midair, floating to a stop. She got her bearings and stared back at the Deathwyrm, its ichor still dripping from her mouth.

The serpent turned and faced her straight on. If it had had eyes, they would have blazed with hatred. It hissed and she wasn't sure if she heard or imagined that it sounded like, "Vampyr…"

"Took you long enough."

Behind the beast, Marceline saw Bubblegum get Finn and Jake back behind cover and Flame Princess watching her, waiting to let go. She realized the wyrm had thrown her near the glycydrogen cloud. Bringing her guitar back around, she drifted toward the trap.

"You want to take at least one demon out of this world? Let's do this!" She could hear her voice shake as she challenged the monster. Her head felt woozy and she remembered why vampires only drank blood from the truly living. She tried to play the heartbeat-like song again, but her numb fingers stumbled on the strings.

The Deathwyrm knew this faltering rhythm well and closed in on her hungrily.

Behind the stalagmite, one arm around Finn, Bubblegum closed her eyes and pressed her free hand over her mouth.

The serpent slithered closer and closer, black tongue coiled. It hesitated at the edge of the glycydrogen cloud. Marceline floated back even further, playing whatever notes she could get out. "Come on. Come on!"

Bubblegum, Finn, and Jake heard her yell "Come on!" one more time, then the _fwoosh_ of fire igniting and a compressive _BOOM_ as the gas combusted. Bubblegum and Finn clung to each other and Jake stretched to shield both of them as a wave of white heat and flame blasted through the chamber. But the rock column held fast and the fire was diverted around them.

Relatively quickly, the flames stopped and the air went silent, but for the pinging of cooling rock. Jake shrank back down and Finn pulled out of Bubblegum's arms to look around the stalagmite.

He stared in awe at the gigantic snake skeleton stretched before him, its bones charred gray.

Jake walked up beside him and whistled. "It worked."

"FP?" Finn called, running down the trail to find her.

Flame Princess stood beside the slag pile, staring at the aftermath with a haunted look.

Finn came to her side with a relieved grin. "Princess, are you all right?"

She turned to look at him now, eyes dark. "I think so. But…"

She trailed off. Finn followed her gaze and his heart clenched.

At the nose of the Deathwyrm's skull, Marceline's axe-bass, every string snapped and curled, had landed blade-down in the ground so it stood upright, like a headstone for the still-smoldering pile of ashes in front of it.

"Marcie?" Finn breathed.

"She told me I was doing the right thing," Flame Princess said, her throat choked up. "She couldn't get out of the way, but she told me to do it." She squeezed Finn's gauntleted hand, her flames dim and flickering.

Jake caught up to them. "What's the matter? Oh…"

As they stared, frozen in the moment, Bubblegum ran past them, digging frantically through her science bag.

"Where is it? Stupid bag!" She flopped the bag down beside the ash pile and tossed equipment out of it. "I always have some with me. Where are you? Aha!"

She held up a stoppered glass vial filled with dark red liquid.

"Is that blood?" Finn squeaked.

"For most vampires, you would need blood, but for Marceline, I suspect concentrated strawberry essence may work better."

She removed the cork and poured the liquid over the ashes, then stepped back with the others as it soaked in.

For a moment, the liquid simply seeped through the dry pile. Then, slowly, the ashes began to clump together. Part of the pile twitched organically.

"Come on," Bubblegum whispered.

As if stirred by a wind, the ashes gathered from where they had scattered on the chamber floor and pulled together. The pile turned an oily black color and swelled outward, stretching into a mass of writhing tentacles. An unearthly howl rose from the mass before both tentacles and voice shrank and coalesced into the familiar form of Marceline propped up on one arm, clutching her forehead.

"Let's not do that again," she groaned.

"Marcie!" Finn cried, racing over to her, Jake fast at his side. She was nearly knocked over by the excited embraces of the boy and dog.

Flame Princess beamed in every meaning of the word as her flames flared with joy before she abruptly pulled them back under control.

Behind them, Bubblegum let out a sigh of relief, sitting down.

"All right! Geez!" Marceline managed to pull free of the boys' hugs. "I take it we won?"

"Oh yeah!" Finn exalted. "That wyrm's gone back to the Underworld as a customer!"

"Good." She coughed and gave Flame Princess a thumbs-up. "Nice work, Pyro."

Flame Princess looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry. I should have waited longer or tried to bend the fire around you. My control isn't very good yet, but—"

"Hey!" Marceline interrupted sharply, pointing at her. "What did I say to remember?"

"I saved the world?" Flame Princess asked.

"Glob yeah, you did! And besides, everything worked out fine." She suddenly turned to Finn, eyes urgent. "Tell me you didn't use your blood to bring me back."

"Nah." He shook his head. "That was PB with the save and her concentrating strawberry stuff."

Marceline looked past them to where Bubblegum sat on a nearby rock, watching quietly. "You still carry that?"

"A wise princess is always prepared," Bubblegum said with a slight smile. "Luckily, my hypothesis was correct."

"Yeah." Marceline still stared at her. "Thanks."

"Shame we can't use that on your bass too," Jake said.

"What?" Marceline's head whipped around and she saw the state of her guitar. "Aw, man!" She leapt up to cradle and inspect it. "This sucks! I just polished this thing like two days ago!" She snarled and kicked the side of the Deathwyrm's skull. "You're lucky you're dead!"

"You were just cremated and _that's_ what you're angry about?!" Bubblegum asked, incredulous.

"Yeah!" Marceline retorted. "Do you know how long it's going to take to re-string and tune this thing?"

As Bubblegum continued to gape at her in exasperation, Jake yawned. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go home, get a cold drink, and not think about death for a while."

"Me too," Finn said.

As they started walking back up the tunnel, Finn added, "If it makes you feel better, Marcie, you really scared me that time."

"Oh. Good. I'll keep that one in mind."

OOO

As the sun rose over the Candy Kingdom, Banana Guards went door-to-door, telling citizens they could remove their earplugs. The process was taking a while.

"I said you can take those out now!" a guard yelled.

"What?" Cinnamon Bun yelled back.

"Your earplugs!" They gestured.

"I don't have a hat!"

Up in her castle, Bubblegum stood on her balcony and watched her kingdom wake up, safe and alive for another morning.

Marceline drifted into the room behind her. "Beemo's recharging. He said he wants you to tell a Software Princess how he helped save the world tonight."

Bubblegum smiled. "If that is what he wishes for his assistance, I'll let her know." She turned back into the room. "How are you?"

Marceline blinked in surprise. "Uh, I'm fine. Why?"

Bubblegum stared at her. "Why? Marceline, you died last night!"

Marceline laughed. "I died long before the Candy People even existed."

"You know what I mean."

Marceline realized the princess was serious. "I'm really fine, Bonnie." She grinned. "Besides, I had you to clean up my mess as usual."

Bubblegum huffed a laugh at that. "Well, good." She hesitated. "If it's not too personal, may I ask you something?"

"This should be interesting." Marceline reclined back in the air and fiddled with her stricken bass out of habit. "Fire away."

Bubblegum flinched at her wording. "When…that happened, where did you go?"

For a long moment, Marceline picked at a fleck of melted metal on her guitar, her eyes focused on the movement. "I don't remember."

"I understand," Bubblegum said, pulling back. "It's a sensitive thing—"

"No," Marceline interrupted, looking up. "I seriously don't remember. I remember the explosion, then waking up with everything tasting like roasted strawberries. Maybe there was a Cosmic Owl or Pearly Gates or the Underworld. Maybe since I'm already undead, there was nowhere else to go. I know you like answers, Bonnie, but I really don't have any for you."

Bubblegum nodded. "That's all right. I suppose some things in life we can't know until the time's right."

"I guess." Though Marceline knew it was a question that would be haunting her anew whenever she let herself sit down and process what happened that night.

As Bubblegum started to head back out to the balcony, Marceline called, "Hey, thanks for keeping that strawberry stuff. And thanks for actually using it. I mean, you could've finally had me out of your hair for good. I wouldn't have blamed you and Finn and the others never would have known—"

She had meant it half-jokingly, but Bubblegum jerked back around, her eyes hurt and offended. "Of course I used it! Marceline, I don't want you annihilated!"

"Yeah?" Marceline's face lit up. "Bonnie, that's the nicest thing you've said to me in years!"

"Shut up," Bubblegum grumbled, but without any real bite in it. She strode back out to survey her kingdom.

Marceline floated after her and leaned on the doorframe within the shadows of the room. They stood in silence for a time. Marceline noticed Bubblegum was watching Finn talk to Flame Princess below.

"It really chafes you seeing them together, huh?"

"I'm not jealous," Bubblegum said.

"Never said you were."

Bubblegum sighed. "I've grown to like Flame Princess, and I'm truly glad that Finn's happy. He deserves it. But she's inherently unstable and he's throwing fuel on a very dangerous fire. They've already nearly destroyed the world once."

"Well, she saved it tonight. I'd say that balances it out."

"Perhaps. I had just hoped to wait until she was an adult to deal with this risk. That's why I had her contained until she was mature enough."

Marceline jerked upright. "Wait, _you're_ the one who locked that girl up?!"

"I did it to protect the world!"

"You can't punish a kid for having emotions!"

"Her 'emotions' can melt the planet's core!" Bubblegum retorted. "It wasn't safe to have her loose until she learned to control them!"

"And keeping her prisoner where she never experienced anything was going to teach her?" Marceline spat.

"Sometimes you have to miss the thrill to avoid the fright!" Bubblegum snapped. She froze, as surprised to hear the words come out of her mouth as Marceline was. She took a breath and shifted to a quieter tone. "If _you_ had a destructive power you couldn't control, you would want someone to stop you from hurting people. I know that."

Marceline growled and looked away. Her mind flashed back to struggling to close a portal to Ooo during her brief moment of lucidity before the cloud of Chaotic Evil swallowed her up again. "She still should've had a say in it. You could have had someone teach her about control instead of telling her she's evil for being that way."

"I had planned to when she was older. I suppose I should have started sooner, but I didn't think she would understand." Bubblegum looked back out at the couple. "They're still so young," she breathed.

Marceline relented and leaned on the door again. "You're not their mom. They'll figure it out. And if they get in trouble, then we'll help them."

"It's just…It's like they've accepted they're always going to be hurting each other."

Marceline stared at the princess's back. "I guess they figure it's worth the pain."

"It'll be harder than they think," Bubblegum said quietly.

"Yeah, but they're tough kids. Maybe they'll make it work. What's the point of living if you don't take the dive?"

Bubblegum was silent for a long moment, her hand coming up to rest over her heart again.

"Or maybe he'll break up with her next week. He got over you fast enough."

Bubblegum turned to glare at her and saw Marceline's wicked grin. "Shouldn't you be getting home to bed?"

"I figured I'd stick around here till nightfall. Had enough close calls for one day."

She saw Bubblegum's eyes soften a bit and almost spoke up to assure her that she was still fine, but Bubblegum nodded and composed herself. "Of course. Make yourself at home. You know your way around the castle."

"I'm good here," Marceline said, floating over to Bubblegum's bed and lounging back. "Don't let me interrupt you thinking deep princess thoughts about your people. You won't even know I'm here."

Bubblegum doubted that very much, but turned back to the balcony to make sure life was returning to normal out there. After a few moments, things had been quiet long enough that her instincts told her it would be a good idea to check what Marceline was doing, so she headed back inside.

"Marceline! That's not a rag to clean your guitar with!"

"What, like you can't buy more handkerchiefs? I thought you were royalty!"

And so life returned to normal inside the castle as well.

OOO

Down in the courtyard, Finn and Flame Princess sat side-by-side on the steps. Finn was folding and crumpling a sheet of tinfoil into a flower.

"I'm sorry our campout didn't turn out the way I planned," he said.

"That's okay. You wanted me to get to know your friends and I did. And I had a great time." She smiled, gleaming as brightly as the orange light of the sunrise. "I'm sorry you didn't get to be the one who killed the Deathwyrm."

"Are you kidding? My girlfriend was the first person to beat a Deathwyrm! That's awesome!"

They both blushed at his use of the word 'girlfriend'. Finn handed her the finished flower. She giggled and sniffed the smoke rising from its glowing edges. Then her face fell a bit.

"I'm surprised Marceline isn't mad at me."

"Why?" Finn asked. "You didn't _try_ to hurt her. And even then, she's pretty cool about stuff like that. She forgave Jake, and he tried to stake her."

They looked over where Jake and Lady Rainacorn were curled up together, dozing happily.

"I'm still going to keep practicing controlling my flame. I don't ever want to burn anyone who isn't evil again." She looked over at him. "Especially you."

Finn felt heat creep up his face that had nothing to do with fire. "It really doesn't bother me."

She smiled a little sadly. "I know. But it bothers me."

Finn frowned slightly, unsure how to reassure her. In response, Flame Princess tore off a sheet of tinfoil, held it up against his cheek, and kissed him. Despite the protection from damage, his face was red when she leaned back.

"I'm going to go home and get some sleep. Can we do this again soon?"

"Yeah, definitely," Finn breathed.

She grinned, tucked the silver flower into her hair, and sped away into the dawn as a trail of fire.

Finn looked at the warm spot next to him and noticed she had melted a handprint into the candy brittle of the step. He rested his hand on it, pretending hers was still there, and watched her go.

"Master Finn?"

Finn jumped at Peppermint Butler's voice behind him and stood up quickly. "Oh, hey, what's up?"

The butler looked slightly amused as he spoke in a low voice. "You asked me to speak with Death about the Deathwyrm?"

Finn's attention instantly focused again. "Oh, yeah! Did you find out what the deal was?"

"Death was completely unaware that any of his creatures had escaped. He passes on his gratitude for dispatching it before it caused too much work for him."

"No problem," Finn said, adopting a heroic pose at the idea of Death being in his debt. "Guess he needs to just make sure he doesn't leave his gate open from now on."

"Quite the contrary," Peppermint Butler said. "The Deathwyrms are contained in a dimension that is secured against nearly every form of magic in the world. Death prides himself on keeping everything in his care where it is supposed to be. He is launching a very thorough investigation into how someone managed to release one without him knowing."

"Whoa." Finn frowned. "But who would have the power to go against Death himself?"

OOO

Deep in the sugar mines, a small form moved through the darkness. Coming to the top of a stalagmite, it looked over the crumbling skeleton of the giant serpent, the creature's destructive potential cut short.

His dark, sinister eyes narrowed and the Snail let out a roar of thwarted rage.


End file.
